It had been no less than a week that they had been back at Hogwarts before something happened which sent Amaryllis into shock. It was something that most people would find normal however she had never expected to be like everybody else.

She received a letter.

Amaryllis stared at the letter for a moment, not daring to open it. As she looked at the beautiful letters on the front of it forming her name. The longer she stared at the letters the less her name looked correct.

"Amy, aren't you going to open it?" Regulus asked seeing her staring at the letter.

She flipped open the letter so she could open it but stopped once again staring at the crest on the back of the envelope. It was the Black Family crest.

"Reg, why am I receiving a letter from your family?" She spoke rather slowly as she questioned the letter in her hand.

"Perhaps mother has something she wants to say to you." He suggested not paying much attention to her as he filled her plate with food.

Noticing that he was serving her food again she shot him a glare.

"You weren't doing it and you need to eat." He defended. "Just eat now, you can sort out the letter later."

Amaryllis nodded putting the letter into her bag and began to pick at the food in front of her not feeling like eating with the worry of the letter being far too great.

"Maybe I said something wrong when with the other women." She said softly to Regulus while staring at the food in front of her.

She began to recall all that had happened that New Year's. Being with Narcissa, Bellatrix, Kathleen and Celeste had meant she had needed to be on her best behaviour all evening as it wasn't like Regulus was there to cover up any of her mistakes.

As she thought back on all she had said she couldn't think of anything that night have been wrong for the situation. There had been no adverse reactions to anything she had said. Maybe she was worrying for nothing.

"I think Mother would have sent a howler rather than an ordinary letter had you done something wrong." Regulus explained to her.

Amaryllis nodded at his comment. It did seem fair enough. She looked over at him sending him a small smile before beginning to actually eat the food in front of her. As she started eating she noticed Regulus relax and smile as well. It was clear he only wanted what was best for her right now and she would have to accept it.

Amaryllis sat on her bed, the letter she had received at lunch in her hands. She was still terrified of opening it. There was no saying what would be in it.

Perhaps it was Walburga saying she was no longer welcome in their home. Perhaps she had done something at the Malfoy's ball and they had just found out about it. Perhaps Walburga had found out all her stories were just lies.

Amaryllis couldn't bear to read the letter. She didn't want this life she had just pulled together to fall apart right before her eyes.

"Are you going to keep staring at that letter or are you going to open it?" Marianne asked her.

Amaryllis holding a letter containing the Black Family crest provided Marianne the perfect opportunity to have another go at Amaryllis. After all the only good Marianne saw with having Amaryllis around was her friendship with the heir of the Black Family.

"Why do you care about it?" Amaryllis asked not seeing why Marianne would care about the letter at all.

"Because it involves the Black Family." She said moving over to the other girl's bed.

Amaryllis just rolled her eyes shoving the letter back into her back and leaving the dorm. She didn't want Marianne to know anything about the letter. It was hers. She was going to read it by herself. No one else should be there when her life was going to fall apart.

As she walked down the corridor to the library she avoided the looks that everyone was giving her. It wasn't often that she was seen alone. Usually she had one of the three boys she was friends with by her side. If not one of them then Lucinda was with her.

"Liz." Amaryllis heard from behind her as she neared the library.

Upon hearing this she rolled her eyes. There were only two idiots who called her that.

"Potter, Black, what do you want?" She snapped turning around to face them. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to them at that exact moment.

"What's up your ass?" Sirius asked her.

"All I want is some peace and quiet to read a letter that might just end my life as I know it." She said through gritted teeth. "But no matter where I go someone is always there. Please can everyone just leave me alone."

"Calm, Liz, calm." Sirius said jokingly in hope of getting her to relax.

"Piss off Black." She said as she turned and entered the library finding the most secluded table as far away from everyone as possible.

Once she sat down she pulled out the letter no longer caring about the fear of what was in the letter. She knew she had about five seconds before someone else would find her and start pestering her about something. As she ripped off the seal she closed her eyes knowing how important the letter could be.

Dear Miss Merrin,

I am writing to inform you of the information received from the families at the winter ball you attended during your break. We have been informed that your behaviour was exactly as I had informed you to behave. Furthermore the reports I have received of your actions during your evening with the other ladies was also to a satisfactory standard. Due to these advancements in your behaviour I have seen it fit to inform you of a betrothal arrangement that currently being arranged between yourself and Regulus in hopes of you maintaining this behaviour into the future. As you are both still underage we shall have to wait for the marriage due to new laws in the Ministry. I would advise you not to inform Regulus of this presently as this is offered with your appearance towards others being kept in mind.

Sincerely,
Walburga Black

"Marriage." Amaryllis exclaimed to herself quietly.

This was in no way what she had expected. How could she have ever predicted something like this? Marrying Regulus was not something she had ever thought about before.

She just stared at the letter in front of her all the other noises around her turning to a dull white noise. Her mind was racing faster than it ever had before. None of this made sense.

"Amaryllis?" She heard a voice say.

She snapped out of her trance shaking her head.

"Yes." She said looking up at the person before dropping her expression to a glare. "What do you want Lupin?"

"Are you alright?" He said having noticed her expression, terrified of what she was thinking.

"Everything's fine." She said as she folded up with letter and shoved it back to her back once again standing up and walking out of the library.

Could she run into anymore Gryffindors today?

The answer to that was yes. As she moved quickly through the corridor towards the Astronomy tower in hopes of being alone to think she ran into yet another Gryffindor.

"Watch where you're going." She snapped at the girl who she had run into.

"I think you'll find you're the one who needs to watch where they're going." The girl responded.

Two equally piercing glares came from two sets of green eyes.

"Who are you?" Amaryllis asked the girl in front of her.

"Lily Evans." The girl said as she picked herself up of the ground.

"You're Potter's girl." Amaryllis said seeing the Gryffindor robes of the girl she was facing having also gotten up of the ground.

She could remember that first night with the boys. Sirius had mentioned something about James being in love with someone names Evans.

"I'm not Potter's girl." Lily defended. "But if that's how we're describing each other, you're Black's brother's girl."

"I hardly see how that's insulting." Amaryllis said as she remembered the contents of the letter in her bag. "You seem much more offended by being connected to Potter."

"Because Potter is an arrogant toe-rag." Lily expressed.

"Well obviously." Amaryllis said rolling her eyes. "Regulus on the other hand is perfect gentleman."

Lily let out a sigh.

"Amaryllis Merrin." Amaryllis said not sure if Lily knew her name or not.

Although after she said it she didn't see why she had. She didn't need Lily knowing her name. Amaryllis just rolled her eyes again and walked off. She continued along the hallway ignoring every call that Lily made after her retreating figure.

Amaryllis needed nothing more than to be alone at that exact moment. She needed to work out exactly what Walburga wanted from her. After all, Walburga wanted Amaryllis to marry her son.

Amaryllis sat on a ledge of the Astronomy tower watching the sunset over the forest. It was beautiful. She knew that the sun setting meant that dinner would currently be happening although right now she didn't feel much like eating. Everything around her was changing and she didn't know how or why.

This life she was currently living. It was so different to anything she had ever expected her life to be. She'd always imagined she'd grow up, fall in love, get a job, get married, then start a family. Now it was seeming like she would get married before she could do anything else.

She had learnt that in the wizarding world people came of age at 17. This meant that she could be married in just over a year. Married to a boy who was merely her friend. Not someone she actually loved. It was so different to the world she was used to. So different to anything she had ever known.

From what she had heard from Walburga it seemed that women of her standing, however strange it seemed to sound, didn't work. All they did was be a housewife with the occasional little project. It seemed that most women spent all their time looking after the children and planning balls. That was never what Amaryllis wanted from her life.

To think, a year ago she had known exactly where she was and what she wanted from life. But now, her whole life was laid out in front of her and she had no say in how it would go.

She looked down at the letter which was once again in her hands hoping that the words would be different. They never were.

Amaryllis swore she had read over the letter nearly twenty times now hoping for different words. The problem with reading over the letter so many times meant she had memorised exactly what it said. Those were words she didn't want memorised.

"Amy, are you up here?" She heard Regulus' voice ask from the doorway of the stairs.

She didn't say anything. He was bound to come out and find her anyway. She couldn't bring herself to say anything not when she knew what was going to happen with them.

"You're missing dinner." He said after noticing her sitting and looking out at the forest. "You need to eat. It isn't healthy to skip meals."

She just shrugged. It wasn't like anyone was going to see her do the action she had been forbidden to do. She had been told it wasn't proper to act like that. She should always vocalise her opinion when spoken to directly.

"Was it bad?" He asked clearly referring to the letter which he had spied in her hand.

Realising he knew she had the letter in her hands she folded it over so he wouldn't read it before shaking her head. If she had said it was bad he would have thought it meant she was being cast out. She believed that he would see what was in the letter as good.

"She told me I behaved exactly as she had instructed me to." Amaryllis explained still not looking at him. "She said that my behaviour was to a satisfactory standard at both the ball and the night I spent with Narcissa and the others."

"Then what are you doing sitting up here?" He asked sitting down beside her in an attempt to catch her eye.

He had no idea why she was avoiding his gaze. It wasn't like her. She usually smiled at him while they were talking, not avoided his gaze.

"I guess it just means that this is now my life." She said with a sigh turning to look at him.

The emotion he saw in her eyes was not something he was used to seeing in her eyes. She seemed sad and afraid. It was strange because she never seemed scared of anything. Even though this whole world was new to her nothing ever seemed to frighten her. Yet, somehow, this did.

"It means that everything I knew of my life before, all the plans that I had, they're all gone now." Amaryllis continued. "I guess I miss my old life more than I'd wanted to admit."

Regulus didn't know how to respond to this. She was never like this before. What was in that letter that made her like this?

"Can I see the letter?" He asked.

"No, she said not to show you." She told him. "I've told you all that you need to know from the letter anyway. The rest was merely more things I should follow while at Hogwarts."

She wanted to tell him the truth. She hated lying to Regulus after everything he'd done for her. More than anything she wanted to say, "Your mother is so pleased with how I've been acting that she wants us to get married." But she knew that she couldn't. She couldn't disobey Walburga.

"Alright." He said as he turned his head to look out at the very end of the sun set watching the last part of the sun disappear behind the trees.

He could tell she didn't want to go to dinner. It was clear she wasn't in the mood to eat so he wasn't going to force her to as he would have any other time. He was going to make sure she ate properly in the morning. He couldn't have her skipping two meals in a row.

Once the sun had completely disappeared the the sky began to grow dark the two of them made their way down from the Astronomy tower. They headed back towards the common room in silence neither having anything else to say.

"Please don't tell anyone about this." Amaryllis said to him as they reached the dungeons.

She couldn't have anyone knowing how she had reacted to the letter. It wasn't how someone was supposed to act and she knew that. She couldn't have people finding out she had a weakness.

"Of course not." Regulus responded sending her another smile before they entered the common room.